...::He said.

.She said::...

...::THE OFFENSE

SHE SAYS::...

I need to preface this entire article with the fact that usually Eric and
I re-watch the game on Sunday's before writing the weekly He said-She said column…thanks
to the game being played on Versus and the fact that we have DirecTV (who is
in a bitter dispute with Comcast over Versus), we were unable to DVR the game
to re-watch it. So…this week's column (and next week's too for that matter)
will have to go off of memory from watching it live...

There are a lot of things going on with the Oregon State offense right now
that could use a little adjusting. Some will get after the offensive line, some
after the quarterback, some after the coaching staff/play calling, and some
after the wide receivers. In actuality, the blame can really be spread across
the board.

Against Arizona, the offense should have done enough to win the game. 32 points,
at home is usually enough for the victory. Were there some ugly moments, yes,
but for the most part the offense sustained some drives. And while they didn't
always make it look easy, they scored points and improved their red zone efficiency
(they were 5 for 5 against the Wildcats).

From a fan perspective though, this doesn't look like an offense that is firing
on all cylinders. The offensive line is young and inexperienced, which is a
direct result of a few years of 'whiffs' in the recruiting department.

The good news here is that there is only one senior in the bunch and these
guys are learning on the fly. They also have one of the best coaches in the
country.

As for the receivers, they made some plays and were led once again by James
Rodgers. Like the offensive line, problems with recruiting have led to a lack
of deep threat targets. Looking back at the 2005 class (would-be redshirt seniors
this year), Kyle Brown and Anthony Crosby were the only two high school wide-outs
recruited, both of whom are no longer with the team. In 2006, the receiver signees
were JUCO transfers Shane Morales and Chris Johnson. Morales could have been
a redshirt senior this year.

A discussion on recruiting however is for a different day.

Was it a beautiful performance offensive performance? Not really, but they
did enough to win with 407 yards and 2 passing and 2 rushing TD's.

SHE SAYS-GRADE: B